It seems that Republic is going to use Diamond aircraft (DA40 and DA42) to train new pilots with guarantee to become right seat pilot for the airline. Maybe this will spur further sales of Diamond planes in the US.

Nice to see Diamond get this contract, I know for a fact that Cirrus was also in competition for this contract and honestly thought that Cirrus would get it as they got the last 2 fleet training contracts I have been following.

I doubt it is worth production costs. Two seat versus four seat in certified do not seem to make a huge difference in price; but a big difference in potential market share.
Even though most pilots never get their IR, you actually see planes which are not IR capable as significantly discounted in terms of price. The result, if Diamond wanted to not only chase the smaller market, they would likely have significant costs to get the plane re-certified for IFR.

This may turn out to be a brilliant move by both Diamond and Republic, considering the goal of training airline pilots efficiently.

Private and Instrument in the DA40.
Commercial Multi-Engine in the DA42.

Avionics are the same in both, so reduced cost for training. A very sophisticated suite similar to what they will soon see in the airline world.

Engines are the same, so less cost for the student to learn systems like ignition, cooling, oil, electrical power, etc.

Maintenance and parts will be less costly as the mechanics will be working on only one engine type.

A four place airplane will allow an observer student to accompany a student and instructor on a training flight. Besides having a 100LL engine different from the DA42, the difference in avionics and having only 2 seats rule the DA20 out for this academy, even though the DA20 is an outstanding airplane for training.

Imagine. These airline pilots will never fly an airplane using 100LL fuel!

Even though Cirrus makes a fine airplane, they could not put a training package together that would even come close to what Diamond has proposed.

I'd not be surprised to see other airlines copying the idea using Diamond Aircraft.

I have just started following a pilot on Facebook who did all her training in Diamond aircraft. She was at UVU in Utah, in their aviation program. She said a year before graduating she was offered a job with Republic. (That's a hungry industry, hiring people before they even get out the door.)

Colin wrote:I have just started following a pilot on Facebook who did all her training in Diamond aircraft. She was at UVU in Utah, in their aviation program. She said a year before graduating she was offered a job with Republic. (That's a hungry industry, hiring people before they even get out the door.)

Does this imply airline pilots no longer have to do the CFI tour-of-duty for a few years before being hired by the airlines? If so, seems good and bad. Good, because the majority of CFI's will no longer be jaded airline applicants just accumulating hours until they get their "real" job. Bad, because there probably will be a shortage of CFIs.